In the Jim Carrey film Yes Man, the love interest, played by Zooey Deschanel, hosts a training group in which members combine long-distance jogging with photography. I always thought the concept was pure fun, but after trying it out I'm not so sure anymore. Where I am?
(Image credit: End to End) Column Number: 10
Date of writing: 16/07/21
Days: 137
Current Location: Carthage, Missouri
Distance traveled: 592.08 miles
Distance remaining: 1658.92 miles
Current tracker: Polar Vantage M2 This is the 66th entry in my bi-monthly run column: I challenge myself that I have to run, walk or bike along Route XNUMX in two years, and write these articles made me notice All my training idiosyncrasies that I would never have had. thought before. As a member of the TechRadar Phones team, I had to test camera phones all the time; it forced me to make weekly excursions around my city to find good samples, which took me a great deal of time. Since I started my running challenge, I have been able to combine my training with my camera tests, with great success. In fact, using a phone camera while shopping made me appreciate those trips that much more.
All roads lead to... more roads
It's so easy while running to keep your head down, watch your feet, and ignore the world around you. This makes it easier to focus on your music and ignore the slow pace of the world around you, only looking up when crossing roads or passing people. This is especially the case if, like me, you live in an urban area. It will take me a good 30 minutes to run to a park or water spot, which isn't enough if I'm on my quick breakfast.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (Image credit: Future) London is pretty grey, especially as during lockdown I found myself running around financial areas like the City of London, which were totally deserted. It's a pretty gray area. Because of this, I got into the habit of keeping my head down and ignoring the world even on my longest runs, when I could get somewhere with cleaner air, more grass, and less traffic. However, that all changed when I decided to start testing smartphone cameras during my career.
keep your head up
One of the best ways to test smartphone cameras is to take wide panoramic views. In these shots, it's easy to see the exposure, how the cameras handle shadows and darkness, the actual resolution of the photo, and more. That's why I always try to take pictures like this. As I began to look up from my feet and look at the park I was in, I began to notice little parts that I would have missed before.
(Image credit: Avenir) Above is a photo I took of a small building in London's Victoria Park, covered in birds, when I was testing the Oppo Find X3 Pro. It wasn't directly in my running path, so I wouldn't have noticed it normally, but when trying to find nice areas to take pictures, I was drawn to it. The actual locations weren't the only thing I started to discover, but I started to appreciate the new views and viewpoints. For example, Hampstead Heath in North London has a place called Parliament Hill, with great views of the city. My running route around the moor didn't usually take me down the hill, but when I realized it was perfect for photography, I changed my route so I could visit more often. Here is a photo I took with the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra in the middle of the hill.
(Image credit: Avenir) I'm not saying I was totally blind to my city, and I'm aware that there are a couple of nice places, but by trying to take more photos in my career, I really started to appreciate the city and its pretty pieces. .
Cats
For the photos above, I always had plenty of time to stop, frame a shot, and shoot it, but most of the time when I'm running I don't have time to. Fortunately, smartphone cameras have tools to help you. For example, from time to time on the slopes, I meet cats. Cats are obviously the best pet you'll find in a city, and I've done an ethical duty to document every feline I've encountered on my adventures. However, cats can be finicky, some are shy and like to run away. Others are all friendly until you take out the phone camera and then they seem bored?
(Image credit: Avenir) This beautiful stuffed angel, found in Kensington and captured with the Black Shark 3, was one of the few ready subjects for my photography. Not only did they want to be photographed, posing in various ways and generally being very affectionate, but when I tried to move on, the cat followed me for several blocks. He broke my heart, but the road has always led me. However, not all cats are like this. If they don't want their picture taken I usually leave them well alone, but some are so friendly and cuddly that they don't stay still long enough to capture them. This was the case with this friend. Apparently they live on my route to the aforementioned Hampstead Heath location, as I see them pretty much every time I'm on that route, and they're very energetic.
(Image credit: Avenir) This photo, taken with the Realme 8 Pro, was taken with the selfie camera (I'm just to the left of the water bottle) because I was only able to frame the shot that way. Like many cats I know, this monochrome moggy really likes to circle me, play with my shoes, and investigate when I'm around, but if I stay still to set up a photo, they get bored and run away. So I became adept at using zoom, action modes, and stabilization to always capture images, instead of the standard capture mode. This post probably went off the rails a bit, but sharing those cat captures was more important than staying in the post. What I'm trying to convey is that shopping with the intention of taking photos has made me appreciate my city, its parks and its pets much more. I changed up my routes to find more beautiful viewpoints (and cat hotspots), which allowed me to see the place in a whole new light. With global lockdowns making the last eighteen months quite a closed experience, seeing nature around me has been a good thing. In Yes Man, Joining the Photographers, Jim Carrey is shown to have embraced his new life of interesting adventures, and as the film unfolds, we see his life improve. I'm not sure my life works much better with my camera phone, but I saved a lot of time by combining these two activities and found a few more cats; It's a definite win in my books.